Category: News

Great news SOCOM fans, Slant Six has finally released the latest patch for SOCOM: Confrontation. The massive patch includes new characters, new weapons, lots of new improvements and more.
 
 
 

A political tug of war is starting to emerge at the UN Climate Change Conference, and it is between the have and the have nots.


Tuesday saw a significant rift begin to form after the publication of a draft proposal from Denmark suggesting authority for policing the agreement move from the United Nations to the World Bank, which would give developed countries power over developing countries.


Those “trust issues” continued on Wednesday, and appear to have caused an unusual split between some of the developing countries.


The split appeared after several small island states and poor African states had demanded a legally binding treaty to aim at a maximum global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius.  They also wanted greenhouse gas concentrations stabilized at 350 parts per million rather than the 450 parts per million favoured by developed countries and some major developing nations.


The small island states and their supporters claimed the existing agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, was not tough enough for the countries most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change.  They want a new legally-binding protocol to run alongside the existing Kyoto Protocol.


The demand was opposed by fast growing developing economies such as China, India and South Africa who thought it would retard their economic development.


In other events, the United States and China, two of the biggest players, and polluters are also engaged in a war of words.  


First was China stating that the US and European Union should have brought more notable emission reduction targets with them to the conference.


Su Wei, deputy head of the Chinese delegation said in a press conference that neither the US, EU, or Japan had offered sufficient cuts in their greenhouse emissions by 2020.


According to Wei, the US target on emissions reductions and the US financial support to developing nations are key to the success of the ongoing climate change conference.


How Wei rejected an EU proposal that the economically advanced developing nations, that would include China, commit to emissions reductions and pay part of the public financing adaption and mitigation to climate change in the developing countries.


Just days after the US’s Environmental Protection Agency bombshell of an admission that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases are dangerous pollutants and a threat to human health and the environment.  Lisa Jackson, the EPA’s administrator appears to be looking for an out.


During her address to attendees at the conference Jackson suggested that the US could take a “common sense” approach to reductions.  Specifically she said: “It will ensure we take meaningful, common-sense steps, and allow us to do what our Clean Air Act does best – reduce emissions for better health, drive technology innovation for a better economy, and protect the environment for a better future – all without placing an undue burden on the businesses that make up the better part of our economy”.


Remember this quote and the context of it, as I believe this debate is at the core of every commitment and concession countries are willing to make – how much will it cost?

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related.posts:

1. The Road To Copenhagen Climate Conference
2. We Have A Deal: The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference Result
3. Copenhagen Climate Change Conference: Day 8 Recap

You would not believe the number of homes I’ve looked at that are filled with black mold. Part of it is that a repo issue. When a bank forecloses on a home, it tends to turn off the electricity and other utilities and winterizes the home. This means the sump pump isn’t running. So the basement gets all damp and gross. Then the dampness travels to the first floor and mold starts to grow, helped along by grime on cabinets and other things. Then it creeps up to the second floor. And if you’re really lucky, the roof leaks and you get mold coming down from the top, too.

If you see fuzzy walls and the home wasn’t decorated with flocked wallpaper, you know you’ve got trouble right away. But what if someone buys a repo, fixes it up without adequately fixing the mold and resells it to you? If you are feeling generally icky and seem to constantly be getting sick and your home has had water damage in the past or you suspect it was a repo, you may want to have it tested to rule out toxic mold.

Have you ever had to deal with toxic mold in a house?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Home Safety – Black Mold

Filed under: Spy Photos, Sedan, Dodge

Speculation regarding the 2011 Dodge Charger has run rampant ever since a particularly intriguing picture was shown during Chrysler‘s major day-long, five-year business plan slideshow that was broadcast online. It was obvious that the car pictured was not a current Charger or a previous concept, so the natural conclusion is that it was an intentional teaser of an exciting new product.

Judging by this series of spy shots from Car and Driver, it would appear that some of the more radical styling elements previewed in Chrysler’s presentation will make it to production on the 2011 Dodge Charger. Starting up front we, see a more rounded and prominent crosshair grille. We also note that the greenhouse appears more flowing with a sharply raked windshield.

Along the bodysides, it’s apparent that the 2011 Charger will have very pronounced hips and shoulders with what appears to be a camouflaged accent directly behind the front wheel wells. At the very rear, the next Charger echoes the changes we saw up front with a smoother rear fascia and new tail light design. So, do you like what you see?

[Source: Car and Driver]

Spy Shots: 2011 Dodge Charger prototype bagged in testing originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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December is a time when there’s more emphasis on giving to charities. And some sponsors make that easier by donating for you. Mambo Sprouts marketing has teamed up with Wellness pet food to create a contest that not only gives you a chance to win some free pet food, but also helps you to donate without emptying your wallet.

To enter the contest, visit the Mambo Sprouts Holiday Pet Photo & Wellness Tip Contest to upload your pet’s photo and write a pet wellness tip.

For each photo uploaded and tip added, Wellness will donate $1. Wellness is willing to donate up to $1,000 if enough pet lovers participate. So far, pet lovers have helped raise $300.

The grand prize winner will receive a gift package of Wellness food worth $100 and choose which animal charity receives the donation!

Plus, five first place winners will receive a gift package of Wellness pet food worth $25. (The image in this post is not representative of the prize.)

Get the official contest rules, and enter the Holiday Contest online at Mambo Sprouts.

PS — Don’t forget to enter the Blisstree $50 Wellness Pet Food Giveaway if you haven’t already! Go to the contest post to enter.

(Image via Wellness)

Post from: Blisstree

Wellness Holiday Giving for Pet Charity

The paper reviewed here is a 2007 Australian paper ‘The Consultation-Liaison in Primary Care Psychiatry Program: A Structured Approach to Long-Term Collaboration’ by Meadows and colleagues and freely available here.

The authors in this paper describe a model for a psychiatric service providing input to primary care. This is the Consultation-Liaison in Primary Care Psychiatry (CLIPP) Model. The service is specific to Australia given the structure of Australian health services. They describe the following components of the CLIPP Model

• Consultation Liaison and Education half-day sessions at the General Practice groups by a visiting psychiatrist with an option to provide specialist support if necessary reimbursed through a benefit scheme.

• Collaborative care with the private sector

• Supervisory input by psychiatrists and community psychiatric nurses in collaboration with the GP.

Regarding the first component, consultation-liaison services providing input to hospital services have been described elsewhere. Here the consultation-liaison service is being applied to a service delivered to primary care. This service has many analogies to a community outpatient clinic also. The collaboration with the private sector in the second part of the model has possibly been an adaptation to available resources and the authors describe this service as particularly useful in relapse prevention.  In the supervisory component the service includes a reminder system to alert the psychiatrist when the next visit is due. There is also an option for a visit by a community psychiatric nurse if necessary. The researchers followed up a group of 62 patients transferred to the service. In the first 12 months of the transfer there was a small drop in functioning but the functioning was maintained from 12 to 24 months.

The service perhaps suited the needs of the local health services in Australia. Health services in other countries have different needs and resources and developments in one country may be applicable to some countries and not others depending on the relevant service configurations and resources. The authors utilise a method of evaluating services in transition. Also the use of a reminder system for community work may be analogous to the clinic booking system although it could be usefully applied to other community services.

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If you have any comments, you can leave them below or alternatively e-mail [email protected]

Disclaimer

The comments made here represent the opinions of the author and do not represent the profession or any body/organisation. The comments made here are not meant as a source of medical advice and those seeking medical advice are advised to consult with their own doctor. The author is not responsible for the contents of any external sites that are linked to in this blog.

The Concerned Africa Scholars Bulletin is currently compiling papers, interventions and reviews for a special issue on the post-9/11 US securitization of the Sahara-Sahel region of West Africa.

We are seeking contributions that will elucidate and dissect the various logics and effects of the increased US military presence in the countries of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Algeria and Morocco. Contributions other countries in the region — e.g., Nigeria, Chad, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Tunisia, Libya — will also be warmly welcome.

We will accept contributions from any disciplinary background, as well as non-affiliated or independent scholars, researchers and critics.

Full length paper (10,000 words, including notes and bibliography)
Intervention (up to 6,000 words)
Book or other media review (up to 3,000 words)

Please send proposals to Jacob Mundy ([email protected]) by 4 January 2010. Successful proposals will be notified by the end of that week. Contributions will be due 1 February 2010.

That was fast. 2K Games has confirmed the new Borderlands DLC hinted at by those trophies (qjnet/playstation-3/trophies-point-to-new-borderlands-dlc.html) we saw yesterday with an announcement for Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, the game’s second

Before we get into the details here, I should state, as a reminder, that I’m not in favor of passing laws mandating net neutrality, as I believe that there is a very strong potential for negative unintended consequences. Yet, I do think that the principle of network neutrality is important, and that it would be a serious mistake for ISPs to look to erode it. Basically, the issue is a lot more nuanced than it is often made out to be. But one thing that is quite clear, is that some of the claims on all sides of the debate have gone to ridiculous levels. You may recall, for example, the flat out lie by lobbyist Mike McCurry, saying that Google paid nothing for bandwidth and its push for net neutrality was to keep getting bandwidth for free. That’s a complete lie.

And now, a whole bunch of you have sent in the story about how a top cable industry lobbyist, Kyle McSlarrow, of the NCTA, is claiming that any net neutrality mandate would violate ISP’s First Amendment rights. What he doesn’t explain is how. And that’s because he can’t. He stacks a few different concepts on top of one another to argue that net neutrality could prevent cable companies from “delivering their traditional multichannel video programming services or new services that are separate and distinct from their Internet access service.” Except, there’s nothing in the suggested FCC mandates that would do that. And even if it did, it’s still difficult to see how it would be a First Amendment violation.

There are tons of very good reasons why we might want to avoid mandating net neutrality through law. But arguing that it will be a First Amendment violation isn’t one of them… and it makes me wonder why lobbyists fighting against the regulations keep bringing up such bad arguments.

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Yesterday we looked at how to expose your kids to gardening early. Today as promised some pint-sized tools that will help grow your child’s love of gardening.

Why invest in kid-sized gardening tools?

• Kids love having their own gear for tasks and hobbies.
• Personal garden gear is a super way to entice your child into participating in the garden.
• Kid-sized tools are smaller and easier for little ones to handle than adult sized tools.
• Kid tools and gear tend to be brightly colored which translates to “easy to find” when your tot half buries his shovel or puts his gloves down to go chase a butterfly.

One of the best places ever to score adorable kids garden gear is at the New York Botanical Garden’s Shop. They’ve got it all from cool Kids’ Watering Cans to a complete Kids’ Garden Gear Set to brightly colored Kids’ Garden Hand Tools and so much more.

Rain boots or garden shoes – Hatley has many cute styles of rainy day / muddy garden boots just for kids such as Dinosaur Rubber Boots, Stars Kids Rain Boots, Strawberry Picnic Kids Rain Boots and more.

Kid’s Garden Apron.

Kid sized garden gloves.

Learn how kids can make a garden journal.

Let your kids get started with gardening indoors now with the very cool Green Toys Indoor Gardening Kit by Green Toys – made with recycled milk containers. Good for younger kids.

Grab a good garden book or two that are especially for little ones such as Green Thumbs: A Kid’s Activity Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Gardening, Kids’ Container Gardening: Year-Round Projects for Inside and Out, or Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children.

Kids’ gardening gifts are perfect for the upcoming holidays or anytime of year to inspire participation in the garden. Are you planning on any holiday garden gifts for your kids?

Post from: Blisstree

The best kid-sized gardening tools

Filed under: Motorsports

BMW Sauber F1.09 unveiled at Valencia – Click above for high-res image gallery

We have to admit, it can get a bit tedious every January when each of the individual teams participating in the Formula One World Championship unveils its car for the upcoming season… one… at… a… time. This year, in fact, a couple of teams opted not to hold official debut events in light of financial restrictions. Seems a little silly to us when you consider how many millions of dollars each team spends every year, but they did it just the same. Next season looks to be even more berserk with an unprecedented 13 teams on the grid, even though three automakers have recently pulled out of the sport. But reports now indicate that rather than taking the wraps off one car at a time, all the teams will get together for one big event and present their cars together.

The debut event, which is shaping up to be an auto show in its own right, is expected to take place in Valencia, Spain, ahead of the first test session of the season. Exact details are being negotiated as we speak by the team principals at the meeting of the Formula One Teams Association in Monaco, where the F1 Business Forum is currently underway. But Brawn/Mercedes GP CEO Nick Fry has already revealed the basics. For our part, we’ll look forward to bringing you all the new cars at once next month.

[Source: Autosport]

2010 F1 cars reportedly set to be unveiled at joint event in Valencia originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I never get tired of maple syrup, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like to mix it up from time to time and vary the syrups I keep in my pantry. There are some good fruit syrups out there – Raspberry, Blackberry, Blueberry, etc. – and I’ve had some good nut-infused maple syrups, too. The Ginger Syrup from The Ginger People is a little different, since it is a straight ginger syrup, sweetened and flavored with real ginger, and does not have a maple syrup base as so many syrups do.

I’ve had this syrup sitting on my shelf for a while now, but found that as I start to do more gingerbread dishes, including Gingerbread Pancakes, in the kitchen. It’s just made with ginger and a thick sugar syrup, so it has a clean ginger flavor and none of the extra stickiness of a corn syrup-based syrup. You can add it to soda water and make your own version of ginger ale, and the bottle recommends trying the syrup in cocktails, but I like a little drizzled on pancakes and quickbreads for extra sweetness and spice.

A cup of lentils has about 229 calories.

One cup also has 198% of the daily recommended value of molybdenum and 89.5% of the recommended daily amount of folate.

NY City’s Tiniest Studio Apartment – NY Post – has slideshow – … Zaarath and Christopher Prokop — and their two cats — live in the smallest apartment in the city, a 175-square-foot “microstudio” in Morningside Heights that the couple bought three months ago for $150,000. At 14.9 feet long and 10 feet wide, it’s about as narrow as a subway car and as claustrophobic as a jail cell. … –
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JPMorgan CEO: Bank sees more mortgage losses – IEVA M. AUGSTUMS, AP Business Writer –  … 
JPMorgan could see losses on home equity loans reaching $1.4 billion over the next several quarters, compared with losses of $1.1 billion in the third quarter.
Prime mortgage losses may reach $600 million, up from $525 million in the third quarter, and subprime mortgage losses could grow from $422 million in the third quarter to $500 million in coming quarters, according to slides from the bank’s presentation.
Dimon added that the bank’s home lending portfolio may shrink 10 percent to 15 percent to about $240 billion in 2010, and $200 billion in 2011 if current trends continue. That decline would reduce 2010 net interest income in the portfolio by about $1 billion, the bank said. … – AP Yahoo

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Home values plummet $500 billion – By Les Christie – Residential real estate owners suffered through another down year, but losses were much lower than in 2008. –   CNNMoney.com
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FHA Developing Method to Mathematically Determine Reverse Mortgage Eligibility – Reverse Mortgage Daily

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Chase Reports Interesting Mortgage Modification Statistics – by Daniel Indiviglio – …   Why is Chase doing so much better modifying mortgages through its proprietary program than the Obama administration program or GSE programs?  … – The Atlantic
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Long interesting article about Lew Ranieri and Selene – Lewie Ranieri wants to fix the mortgage mess – By Shawn Tully – The legendary financier behind mortgage-backed securities is trying to repair the damage – and make a bundle in the process. – … Selene’s mission is simple: to buy delinquent mortgages at a deep discount, work with homeowners to get them paying again, and resell the now stable loans for profit. To get homeowners to do their part, Ranieri is taking the radical step of substantially lowering their mortgage balances.   … – CNN Money Fortune

KNOXVILLE — On December 11, the University of Tennessee Extension launches a second online learning portal geared to the professional development of its state-wide workforce.

UT Extension Online Learning (extOL) is a group of Web sites that deliver online professional development offerings and in-demand Extension programming that has traditionally been delivered at county meetings and in-services throughout the state. The launch of the extOL Workforce Learning Web site caps off a series of training events related to e-learning scheduled throughout the week of Dec. 7-11 (officially proclaimed Employee Learning Week in the state of Tennessee by Governor Bredesen through the efforts of the Nashville chapter of the American Society for Training and Development).

Richard Karel, Instructional Technology Specialist for UT Extension Online Learning, said Extension has come up with some innovative ways to deliver the same valuable programming to Tennesseans, and the workforce that makes up UT and TSU Cooperative Extension Service, in order to remain effective in their mission.

“UT Extension has already certified 49 private applicators in the Pesticide Safety Education Program through online delivery via extOL, seeing an average gain of twenty-three percentile points in test scores,” Karel said. “Now, UT Extension is focusing on the optimal performance of our workforce with the soon-to-be launch of our professional development online learning portal—which will be ‘powered by’ the knowledge transfer of Tennessee Extension professionals.”

Tim Cross, dean of UT Extension, says that he is pleased to announce that Extension is nearing the official launch of the extOL Workforce Learning site—a web site that will serve the purpose of sharing knowledge with colleagues around the state. “For Extension, many opportunities exist to expand our abilities to reach our audiences and support our own training needs through online courses and tutorials.”

Karel asserts that, while there are many challenges ahead in the Moodle implementation, “Our LMS Implementation Committee was able to target specific training needs for UT Extension and our clientele, and this will ensure productivity and cost-savings by generating the intellectual capital required for each employee to meet compliance guidelines and achieve excellence in all areas of their employment.”

The first extOL Web site went online in October of this year. The extOL Certifications site was a campus-wide effort, requiring many departments to collaborate within Extension and without. “I’m very impressed with the way this came together—from the Treasurer’s Office to the Office of Information Technology—to achieve the launch of the fee-based certifications site,” said Karel. “LMS companies have resorted to telling about the dangers of finding the right partner for implementation in their own advertising, so to have ours go so well is quite a testament to UT, Extension and our service providers.”

For more information on extOL, visit http://extol.tennessee.edu.

The holiday spirit definitely is high up in the PlayStation Store air now, especially with the release of the latest Store Update filled with bags of sweet Christmas cheer. No time to waste! Check out what’s in

It seems a few days after I stopped waiting for the HTC HD2 with a sliding keyboard and decided to commit to the black slab, it seems Vodafone has decided to stop selling the HTC HD2.

Vodafone:

"We haven’t recalled or stopped selling it, at the moment we have simply ran out of stock. When our next batch of stock arrives, this will be used to fulfill our outstanding back orders but we won’t be taking any additional orders via Telesales."

The reason for this shocking development is not clear. Suspected reasons vary from Vodafone making way for the iPhone 3GS, HTC not being able to supply demand or the handset simply being moved from the consumer to business section and requiring a business contract.

Whatever the reason, there is likely to be thousands of disappointed current Vodafone subscribers who may be not be Vodafone subscribers for very long.  I am certainly glad I got my order in on the 8th, and am expecting the handset on the 15th, but I know many others are not as lucky.

We will be pinging our HTC rep tomorrow for an official denial or confirmation.

Are you an angry Vodafone subscriber?  Let us know below.

Read more in Vodafone’s forums here.

Via Engadget.com

Filed under: UK, Celebrities, Humor

What to Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May all have in common with the Village People? Well, nothing really, except for the fact that all of them were present and accounted for at last Sunday’s taping of Top Gear in Britain. Sort of… actually, it was four men that the BBC crew hired to dress up like the stereotypically gay musical group of “Y.M.C.A.” and “Macho Man” fame.

So, the next logical question: Why? To prove that Top Gear isn’t homophobic, obviously. Just last week, word hit the Interwebs that a gay couple had been denied tickets to the super-popular British show due to a rule that TG’s cast be made up equally of men and women. The BBC claims it doesn’t deny gay people from its audience as long as the 50/50 rule is adhered to.

Never one to back down from controversy, Jeremy Clarkson reportedly said during the taping, “The truth is, we welcome homosexual couples. We particularly like the lesbian sort… I saw a film about lesbians on the Internet once. It looked very interesting.” This is sure to smooth over any tensions between the gay community and Top Gear, dontcha think?

[Source: Mirror.co.uk]

Top Gear crew responds to gay audience kerfuffle by bringing on the Village People. Sort of. originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Magnum Impact Torque Wrench Systems —

Features and Benefits:

•Combines the power of impact and hand torque wrenches in one tool

•Multiplier increases speed and productivity, as well as accuracy

•Interchangeable multiplier sets: 800, 1,800, 3,000 and 4,500 ft/lbs

•2-1/2″ impact wrench

•19,800 ft-lbs

•Weight: 242 lbs