Category: News

The bubble has officially been POPPED*, baby!

Roubini was right, gold is a barbarous relic!

*For today, anyway

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See Also:

• Gartman: Here’s How To Go Long Gold In Another Currency
• Gold "Super Spike" Coming In 2010
• Roubini: Here’s Five Reasons The "Barbarous Relic" Gold Is Going To Tank

It was another Sunday soccer game for 15-year-old goalie Glen Martin. He was ready to do anything to protect his team’s goal. While trying to block a shot, the opposing team’s player accidentally kneed him in the stomach.

When Glen was hit, his organs were pushed against his spine, lacerating his liver, puncturing his small intestine and severing his pancreas. He was flown to Children’s that night and operated on the next day. Glen spent the next 70 days recovering in the hospital.

Knowing first-hand that having activities to do during your hospital stay is important, Glen joined Children’s Teen Advisory Committee (TAC) after his long inpatient stay. Patient boredom can be avoided by planning activities where you interact with other patients. The TAC meets once a month and organizes activities that will enhance the hospital environment for other teen patients. That way, instead of only being able to think about getting out of the hospital, patients actually have something to look forward to during their hospital stay.

TAC has two carts filled with “teen only” activities that they bring to the bedside of hospitalized teens. They also host three parties each year for teen patients and their families, educates patients on how to make educated decisions about their own health care and hosts an annual education fair.

Jessica Strzelecki, a Child Life Specialist and TAC facilitator, remembers Glen talking about wanting to give back to the hospital during his stay. “I thought TAC would be a great place for Glen to share his ideas from his own experience and to help with the many projects that were underway within the committee,” she said.

This spring Glen also helped raise $2,500 for Children’s through Miles for Miracles, where patients sponsor runners in the Boston Marathon. All the money raised is then donated to Children’s.

You can read more about Glen’s patient experience here.

While volunteering is not a new idea, it may be to some of your children. Research has shown that “volunteering plays a valuable role in shaping how youth learn to interact with their community and develop the skills, values, and sense of empowerment necessary to become active citizens.”

Related posts:

1. Kids giving back to kids: Children in medical research #1
2. Health headlines: Mozart helps preemies, children’s allergies and teen brains really are different
3. Health headlines: Fearless toddlers, Viagra for kids and Santa wants his vaccine

Now here’s something I found intriguing – Emily M. Matthias is a doctoral student in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at New Mexico State University. She is currrently conducting a sturdy entitled “Myth, Memory and Multiculturalism: Exploring Cultural Identity through Genealogical Pursuit”

According to Emily, she is also “a family history researcher, working on my own family (hi)story.” The purpose of her “study is to explore ideas surrounding cultural identity formation using family history research (genealogy) as one lens.”

If you go to her website, you can participate in this study if “you are a family history researcher who has engaged in your own personal family history research via the Internet. If you decide to participate, you will be asked to complete the following three survey steps:

1. You will be asked to complete this Internet survey regarding your research experience.
2. You will be asked to email a personal family photograph, with an accompanying story, telling why you chose that particular image and how it has helped or not helped you to find a sense of cultural identity (optional).
3. You will be asked to record an oral story via a telephone answering system (optional).

Check out the study and Emily’s website at: http://www.mygenealogystudy.com

Within the past hour, shares of Career Education Corp. (CECO) started to plunge more than 10%. Soon after, a heavily-redacted memo from the Department of Education’s Inspector General came out.

The memo questions whether or not the government will continue to provide student aid to colleges accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Government aid is especially important for colleges budgets, especially the for-profit sector. Below, the memo in full:

l13j0006 –

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See Also:

• How Not To Go From Banking To Law School
• 75% of US High School Graduates Shouldn’t Go To College
• Come On, Is There Really A Devry Grad At Goldman Sachs?

Filed under: Buick

A few months back following the debut of the 2010 LaCrosse, Buick surprised us with the announcement that it would add a third powertrain option to the sedan’s lineup. After launching with a pair of V6 engines, Buick is now getting ready to start offering a LaCrosse CX model with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine. This is the same direct injected unit that debuted in the new Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain last summer.

When the four-pot LaCrosse goes on sale early in the new year, it will carry a base sticker price of $26,995 (*including delivery). That’s $840 less than what it takes to get the current 3.0-liter V6 powered CX model in your driveway. In addition to the up-front savings, buyers should expect reduced operating costs for the four. Final EPA certification numbers aren’t in yet, but Buick is estimating that the LaCrosse four will net 20 mpg in the city and 30 mpg on the highway. For comparison’s sake, the 3.0-liter is rated at 17/26 mpg city and highway.

The new 2.4-liter LaCrosse is slated to arrive in dealers in the first quarter of 2010. Official details in the presser after the jump.

Photos Copyright (C)2009 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.
[Source: Buick]

Continue reading Four-cylinder Buick LaCrosse arrives Q1 next year, to be priced from $26,995*

Four-cylinder Buick LaCrosse arrives Q1 next year, to be priced from $26,995* originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The HTC Touch Pro 2 paired with a pico-projector allows presentations to be given anywhere, including a mud hut.

The Army has been talking again about its Army Knowledge Online portal, which provide worldwide online access to repository of online information, distance-learning tools, e-mail and other resources for 2.6 million Army users. The Web-based service is now part of a broader service known as Defence Knowledge Online.

That effort reached a new milestone in late October with the approval of an initial set of smart phones that, with other pocket-sized accessories, offers a way for soldiers to access the portal. The phones that can access the AKO portal approved for initial fielding are the HTC Ozone, Samsung Epix, Palm Treo Pro and HTC Touch Pro, said Maj. Keith Parker, assistant project manager for Go Mobile AKO/DKO.

The smartphones are paired with a set of accessory devices contained in a solar-powered backpack from Voltaic Systems which include:

• Myvu Solo video goggles, which work as a personal media viewer. Soldiers can privately watch training videos through the goggles and listen to audio through attached ear buds.
• The battery-powered Optoma Pico pocket projector, which is smaller than a cell phone and lets users project full-sized presentations onto any available surface. “You could run it from a mud hut,” Parker said.
• The Celio Redfly companion, a two-pound device that displays whatever is on its companion smart phone on an eight-inch screen with a full QWERTY keyboard. Because the Redfly has no operating system, processor or memory, users can’t save data on it. If it’s lost or falls into enemy territory, there’s no harm done.
• The Planon Printstik, which has a 50-page capacity. The thermal printer is designed for “quick reactionary type things,” Parker said, not publication-quality documents. Even so, Parker said he once left a page in direct sunlight for a week or so, and the print didn’t fade.
• A mini solar charger that folds to about the size of a computer mouse and can charge all of those devices. The charger takes a few hours to fully charge but can run the devices for about eight hours.

"Each piece of the Go Mobile kit has to meet stringent Defense Department information assurance requirements," Parker said. The project is getting ready for its first phase of deployment for garrison training. The next phase will be the tactical environment, which will require hardening of the equipment to military specifications, including both Mil-Std 810-F and Mil-Std 810-G requirements, Parker said.

Good Technology provides the Army with its Good for Government server, which sits behind the firewall in the AKO data center, said John Herrema, chief marketing officer for Good Technology. There it interfaces with AKO’s back-end systems, including its messaging platform and directory infrastructure.

Good also provides a network operations center (NOC), based in a secure cloud environment, that communicates with the AKO users’ mobile devices. The NOC intelligently bridges those two connections — the data center and the mobile devices — so that "you don’t have to open up any inbound ports, so there’s no way an outside hacker can try to connect in," Herrema said.

"The net result of all this is that you have an environment where users can send and receive messages while they are in no way exposed to attack," Herrema said.

The phones were rigorously tested before they received approval, Parker said. Users will be able to buy an approved smart phone and a service plan from their wireless carrier. After completing a specialized registration process, qualified users will then be able to download Go Mobile’s customized software. The middleware for the project was developed by Good Technology, a third-party vendor.

Although it is in the testing phase, the Go Mobile program should be operational by early next year, Parker said.

The program is ultimately about the convergence of smart phones, personal digital assistants and phones, Parker said. He said that when he used to get a PowerPoint slide on his BlackBerry, he would need to wait until he got back to his hotel, home or office to download it. Now he can access it fully via AKO.

“Our goal is to provide enterprise service and ubiquitous access,”  “It’s a portal in your pocket.”

Read more about the initiative at Government Computer News.com

Bank of America may have named its new CEO today, but today it dropped the key $15 a share mark, which it hasn’t since mid-July of 2009.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement Mr. Moynihan.

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See Also:

• Stocks Plunge In Final Hour Of Trading
• Andrew Cuomo Vetoed Bank Of America’s Top CEO Choice, So Moynihan Got The Job
• Bank Of America Analyst Discovered In A Closet Passed Out With A Nosebleed

How do you make God of War III’s Ultimate Edition even more ultimate? By throwing in God of War Collection and turning

Fred Anderson is providing an inside look at COP-15 in Copenhagen to The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) World Climate Change Report. 

Today, Anderson’s Notebook (12/17/09), titled What is US Industry to Make of Copenhagen?, discusses what industry is to make of the proceedings and whether the conference and any agreement it produces will shape things to come in the United States.

To read the full entry, please click here.

Many toys can pose serious safety risks to children. The child safety and consumer advocacy group, World Against Toys Causing Harm (W.A.T.C.H.), recommends that parents and gift givers steer clear of the products on its annual “10 Worst Toys” list this holiday season. Some of the popular toys on the list may surprise you.

Good news for those of you who (like me) cringe and change lanes when you see someone two-handed texting while “driving” their cars: the Boston City Council yesterday voted unanimously to ban texting while driving. Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino has said he’ll sign the ban as soon as it hits his desk, and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has said he supports a ban on texting while driving, so hopefully the state will follow suit soon.

Last summer, Emily, a youth advisor in Children’s Center for Young Women’s Health, wrote a post on the Youth Advisory Program’s blog about the dangers of texting while driving.

Related posts:

1. Texting and driving
2. This week on Thrive: Dec. 14 – 18
3. Warning: This photo contains unrealistic body images

The following databases were added this week at TheOriginalRecord.com:

1882 – Oxford Electoral Register
The electoral register for the City of Oxford for 1882 lists persons entitled to vote at any election of a member or members to serve in parliament for the city or parliamentary borough of Oxford in that year. The names are arranged alphabetically in the parishes of Saint Aldate, Binsey, Saint Clement, Cowley, Saint Ebbe, Saint Giles, Headington, Holywell, Iffley, Saint John, Saint Martin, Saint Mary Magdalen, Saint Mary the Virgin, Saint Michael, North Hincksey and South Hincksey (in Berkshire), Saint Peter in the East, Saint Peter le Bailey, and Saint Thomas. In each case the voter number (out of a total of 6190) is given in the first column; then full name, surname first; place of abode; nature of qualification (such as house, &c.); and the name and situation of the qualifying property (often the same as the place of abode). At the end of each parish there is a list of freemen to be registered as parliamentary voters, with number, full name (surname first) and place of abode; and a list of lodgers registered as parliamentary voters, with number, full name (surname first), description of rooms occupied, and whether furnished or not, address, amount of rent paid, and name and address of landlord.

1910 – Steam Engine Makers’ Society Membership Lists
This trades union ended 1910 with 13,401 members in 144 branches. The 86th Annual Report gives a full list of members for each branch, followed by Travelling Expenses subsidised by the branch (with names and dates); Unemployed Expenses (with names and dates); Superannuation, Sick and Funeral Expenses (all with names and dates).

1933-1936 – Tunestallia
Brownhills High School, Staffordshire, produced a yearly magazine, called Tunestallia, issued in July. Each issue had School Notes; poems and essays by current pupils; The Library (with names of recent donors); News of Old Staff; News of Old Girls – with marriages, and births of children; Parents’ Association; School Societies; Old Girls’ Association; The Four “Houses” (Blackbirds, Finches, Robins and Wrens); Games Report (Hockey, Netball, Rounders, Tennis, Swimming and Gymnastics); and Prizes (Form Prizes, Special Prizes, Certificates, Scholarships, the Bingham Games Cup) and lists of Prefects and Sub-Prefects.

1951 – Members of the British Friesian Cattle Society
This organization registered the pedigrees of pure Friesian cattle in the United Kingdom. This list of members is corrected to 10 April 1951, and gives full name (surname first), address, and where the member owned a herd, the prefix attributed to that herd. A dagger in front of an entry indicates that the herd was attested.

1951 – The Squash Rackets Association’s Handbook for 1951-1952
The Squash Rackets Association’s Handbook for 1951-1952 includes lists of officers of the association, county associations and affiliated clubs, affiliated associations and overseas clubs, and individual members and junior individual members of the main association. There are also comprehensive reports and results from the Open Championship for 1950-1951, the Amateur Championship, the Professional Championship, International Matches (England v. Scotland, England v. Ireland, Scotland v. Ireland, Ireland v. Wales, Denmark v. Sweden), the Inter-County Championship, the Area Championships, the Inter-Area Championship, the North of England Championship, South of England Championship, East of England Championship, Midlands Championship, the Bath Club Cup, the Royal Navy Championship, Army Championship, Royal Air Force Championship, Civil Service Championship, Inter-Services Tournament, Amateurs v. Professionals, Oxford v. Cambridge, and the Londonderry Cup, the Cumberland Cup, and various amateur tournaments. There are reports from the county associations, the services, the universities, and the public schools; and a series of reports on overseas associations.

1953 – Stratford-upon-Avon Directory
Kelly’s Directory of Warwick, Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon, Kenilworth, &c. for 1953 includes this listing of private residents of Stratford-upon-Avon. Full names are given, surname first, and address.

1957 – Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Officers
The Navy List for 1957, corrected to 18 January 1957, includes this alphabetical catalogue of ‘Officers on the Active List of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and other Naval Volunteer Reserves’. The first column gives surname and initials, with name of ship, or CCF for Combined Cadet Force, or SCC for Sea Cadet Corps, in square brackets, and in round brackets if in the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RAN), Royal Marine Forces Volunteer Reserve (RMFVR), Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNZN), Hong Kong Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (Hg Kg), Fiji Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (Fiji), Indian Naval Volunteer Reserve (IN), South African Naval Forces (SA), Pakistan Naval Volunteer Reserve (PN), East Africa Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (EA), Mauritius Naval Volunteer Reserve (Maur), Malayan Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (Mala), Royal Ceylon Volunteer Naval Reserve (RCyN), or Sierra Leone Naval Volunteer Reserve (Sa Ln). The second column is rank, with a profusion of abbreviations, most of which are self-evident, often qualified by a specialisation, in brackets. The third column is division in which serving; and the fourth column date of seniority (in italics for officers holding temporary commissions).

The Original Record now has over 9 million entries directly available online, with a free unlimited search. All records are hand-indexed (no OCR). Purchase sets of scans, or buy open access to the surname(s) of your choice, including variants. For more info, see: www.theoriginalrecord.com

I have no affiliation with the Original Record, and am posting this info. for informational purposes only.

If you have New Jersey ancestors, you may want to get a copy of “Research in New Jersey,” written for the NGS Research in the States” series by Claire Keenan Agthe. The following is excerpted from the December 16, 2009 “What’s New at the National Genealogical Society?”

Just in time for Christmas, the latest NGS Research in the States guide, Research in New Jersey is available. Written by professional genealogist Claire Keenan Agthe, this guide to the Garden State leads researchers down the right path to finding their ancestors—from the colonial era to later immigrants. Early in the history of the NGS Quarterly, lengthy articles about researching in specific states were featured. Eventually the articles were updated, expanded, and published as concise guides to the history, records, and research facilities of a state. The Research in the States series continues this tradition by publishing new guides in print and e-book versions. Research in New Jersey is the latest of thirteen states now available.

Filed under: Etc., Videos, Humor

The prospect of getting a ticket can make you do a lot of things you wouldn’t normally do — beg, plead, be charming, anything goes, really, when it comes to fending off points and higher insurance premiums. Well, not anything, unless you’re this woman, who went nuts at the idea of being ticketed. Like, crazy nuts.

We don’t know who she is or what she did or what ungodly nightmare she was trying to avoid, but we do know she’s got a set of pipes. If anyone can tell us what she’s saying, please let us know in the comments. Follow the jump for the video, and keep your hand on the volume knob for this one.

[Source: Live Leak via Ryan O’Keefe]

Continue reading VIDEO: How not to behave during a traffic stop

VIDEO: How not to behave during a traffic stop originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PaidContent has the details on an interview with Steve Haber, the boss of Sony’s ebook reader business, where he trashed the $10 ebook and praised DRM. And now you all know why no one buys Sony ebook readers. Basically, the product’s boss has decided to take an anti-consumer stance. Why would anyone want to shell out hundreds of dollars on a product when you know the company that makes it wants to screw you over?

On the price of ebooks — a topic of widespread debate — he insists that $10 can’t possibly work:

“The $9.99 price point is not a money-maker. Certain bestsellers are sold at that price for retail, competitive reasons. But you need to have a range. You could go from $10 to $20 even to $100 for an e-book. There’s no sweet spot and it’s certainly not $9.99.”

Well, first, let’s be clear. The only reason that $9.99 isn’t a money-maker is because publishers are still charging more at wholesale for the ebooks, still pretending that the lack of printing, materials and shipping shouldn’t result in a lower price. Basically, the publishers are in denial, and Sony shouldn’t be supporting them.

How about DRM? Remember, this is Sony, we’re talking about, which has a history of abusing DRM against consumers. It’s also the same Sony who keeps having its top execs claim that DRM holds up innovation and that open solutions win in competitive markets. And then they release their next DRM’ed/closed offering. So, how does Haber explain his love of DRM?

“You need an orderly process to sell books and DRM makes that possible, mainly because it allows content creators and distributors to make money from that content.”

Huh?!? What does DRM have to do with making money from content? Absolutely nothing. iTunes sells a lot of music — and it’s all DRM free (finally). You don’t need DRM to make money from content. You don’t need DRM to have an “orderly process” to sell things. You only need DRM to limit what consumers can do, limiting the value of the content, making it less valuable to pay for.

It seems that the only thing keeping Sony in this business is the fact that the competition is basically just as bad on these issues, but one of these days someone’s going to figure this out — but it doesn’t sound like it will be Sony.

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For Immediate Release: December 17, 2009
Contact: Amy Gaskill; (503) 231-6874; [email protected]
FFS #R1BB

OLYMPIA, Wash. –  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior, has awarded a $149,757 contract under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to Allen Bradbury Construction Inc., a general construction and remodeling company based in Algona, Washington. The project is expected to employ approximately eight workers.

The company will replace 15 severely deteriorated piling markers on the refuge’s tideland boundary. The markers are important in protecting up to 1 million shorebirds from potential disturbance. Thousands of shorebirds, primarily dunlin, use the refuge for wintering grounds. Other birds that frequent the refuge include various waterfowl species, brown pelicans, bald eagles, and peregrine falcons.

“This project will mark the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge boundary in the tide flats,” Refuge Manager Jean Takekawa said. “It will help us to better manage wildlife resources, including the thousands of migratory shorebirds that utilize the refuge every year.”

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed earlier this year gave $3 billion to the Department of the Interior. Of that amount, $280 million in funding goes to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The ARRA funds are part of a stimulus package that is an important component of President Obama’s plan to jumpstart the economy and put a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges so the country can thrive in the 21st century. Under the ARRA, Interior is making an investment in conserving America’s timeless treasures – our stunning natural landscapes, our monuments to liberty, the icons of our culture and our heritage – while helping American families and their communities prosper again. Interior is also focusing on renewable energy projects, the needs of American Indians, employing youth and promoting community service.

“With its investments of Recovery Act funds, the Department of the Interior and its bureaus are putting people to work today to make improvements that will benefit the environment and the region for many years to come,” Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said.

Secretary Salazar has pledged unprecedented levels of transparency and accountability in the implementation of the Department’s economic recovery projects. The public will be able to follow the progress of each project on www.recovery.gov and on www.interior.gov/recovery.

Secretary Salazar has appointed a Senior Advisor for Economic Recovery, Chris Henderson, and an Interior Economic Recovery Task Force to work closely with Interior’s Inspector General to ensure the recovery program is meeting the high standards for accountability, responsibility, and transparency set by President Obama.

The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals and commitment to public service. For questions, comments or concerns e-mail us at [email protected]. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov.