The key signs of real economic recovery include the presence of large orders for capital investment projects. Here’s one now, a $1.6B order for windmills from GE. This is a very good sign.
Now, we need a large company to begin hiring a thousand people or more in support of growth efforts.
How quickly things change. Despite entering bankruptcy on November 1st, Cit Group (CIT) is back already, with its new post-bankruptcy shares.
While the old CIT shares and taxpayers’ funds were annihilated by the bankruptcy, that hasn’t scared off a new wave of punters. CIT shares are up $2.50 on their first day so far.
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Filed under: Motorsports, Performance, Dodge
The Dodge Viper has never been a particularly brilliant road car. But get it out to the track, and the snake’s reason for being becomes abundantly clear. To emphasize its on-track prowess, introduce a new Viper spec series and provide a fitting send-off to the current generation coupe, Dodge and its SRT group is building a turn-key racer in the form of the 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR-X.
Priced at a cool $110,000, the ACR-X retains its 8.4-liter V10, but gains a set of racing headers and a low-restriction exhaust to increase output to 640 horsepower — an additional 40 ponies over the standard model.
The suspension has been tuned for track duty, the weight has been cut by 160 pounds and a new set of aerodynamic enhancements improve downforce, while a roll cage, fuel cell and race seat get it ready to compete in the SCCA and NASA Viper Racing League. Production begins this spring, with the Dodge Viper Spec series kicking off in July of 2010. Make the jump for the press release and a video of the ACR-X’s development.
Gallery: 2010 Dodge Viper ACR-X
Continue reading 2010 Dodge Viper ACR-X ready to fill your track-rat, spec-racing needs [w/ VIDEO]
2010 Dodge Viper ACR-X ready to fill your track-rat, spec-racing needs [w/ VIDEO] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
AOL finally became a publicly traded, independent company earlier today when its shares became officially available on the NYSE. And, as its CEO, Tim Armstrong, rang the opening bell at the stock market, the company’s homepage, Aol.com, introduced the new design revealed a couple of weeks ago. It’s not much of a change visually, but the symbolism behind the changes should be in line with the new company’s goals.
“AOL is proud to be trading on the most prestigious Exchange in the world and we hope to follow the many successful companies before us who have opened on the NYSE,” Tim Armstrong, AOL’s chairman and CEO, said. “As an independent company with a recognized global Internet brand, we will be competing for the future of content, communications and advertising and that is a very exciting and significant opportunity.”
The new homepage looks pretty much the same as the old one and the layout is rather similar. The things that are impossible to miss, though, are the new selectable themes, which adorn the site with backgrounds ranging from goldfish, cuddly, blue monsters, butterflies to all manners of abstract images. Along with the background, the color theme of the site changes to match.
But there’s more to the new design than what… (read more)
As the first major winter storm of the season continues to drop snow and ice
throughout the Midwest, elements of the Iowa and Wisconsin National Guard have been
stood up to assist state and local authorities in responding to emergency
calls…
When Staff Sgt. Sergio Valdes saw a dog running down Interstate 95 with its leash
dragging behind it, he knew there was trouble…
With more troops headed to Afghanistan, First Army Division West grabbed the reins
to prepare the 135th Expeditionary Sustainment Command of the Alabama National Guard
to support that influx of warfighters….
Steep mountain roads have been the only way to reach some of the outlying villages
around here. During inclement weather even a four-wheel drive vehicle can have
difficulty reaching some of these areas…
In an effort to attract more prior active duty servicemembers to the Air Guard, the
National Guard Bureau made the 162nd Fighter Wing the focus of a campaign photo
shoot here Nov. 30 – Dec. 3…
Photo- Hatay iskenderun Energy Forum on 5th December 2009
Dear Energy Professional, Dear Colleagues,
If you are the Minister of Health, then it is expected that you should have a graduate degree from a leading University Medical School. Similarly, if you are the Minister of Justice, you should have a Law degree and many years of practice in courts. An engineer is not expected nor preferred to be a minister of Justice, or in Public Health. Such assignments can be possible theoretically but not desired or expected.
It is preferred that Foreign Ministers are to be graduates of International Politics of reputable universities, with further postgraduate degrees in the same field and multi language capabilities. Our new FM is a perfect choice due to his amazing university career. His book on “Strategic Dept” is an extraordinary intellectual output which describes our new political approach as “no-problems with neighbors”.
Likewise, our Minister in charge of the Treasury is another good choice with his graduate 4.0 GPA from the METU Industrial engineering department which was further reinforced with an MBA degree from a reputable U.S. business school.
On the other hand, anyone can be chosen as Minister of Energy and Natural Resources in our country. Reputable names of our political environment with post graduate degrees from Ankara University in the Department of Political Science have been assigned as Ministers of Energy in the past. No one asks, “Why? Are they capable?”
Even a lawyer was chosen as a Minister of Energy for three consecutive terms. During his term, we had arbitration disputes, and we paid costly consequences. During their time, they learned the energy business, but it proved to be a very costly education experience of the job.
Our previous Minister had a post graduate degree from METU Metallurgy Department. He knew metals, mining, metallurgy, and he had time to consume six years of the energy business in detail during his management.
I strongly advise that the Minister of Energy should have an engineering degree. He should also speak a foreign language, preferably English, and furthermore, his knowledge in Russian, Farsi, Arabic, and/or French is a plus. It is also preferable that he have a post graduate degree in international politics and international commercial law.
The most important item is that he should have taken undergraduate coursework on Thermodynamics, earning a top grade.
Last week I was in Hatay Iskenderun to participate and deliver a speech at an Energy Forum which was organized by the local branch of the Chamber of Turkish Electrical Engineers. The speech was presented on 5th December 2009, to an audience of more than 80 professionals. Most were local electrical engineers but also from other engineering disciplines as well.
By asking interactive questions, we had the opportunity to learn the experience and educational profile of the audience. We understood that all of them had received undergraduate courses on Thermodynamics since it is compulsory.
Our new Energy Minister is also a graduate of Istanbul Technical University and has a Graduate degree from the EE department, and he too for sure had compulsory Thermodynamics courses during his undergraduate years.
Please do note that the Energy Ministry is a public institution to serve but not a school nor a university. Any public employee, at all levels should have had sufficient graduate education. We should not reeducate the newcomers that “volt” is not “watt”, there is no such expression as “teravolt”, and “Megabyte” is not “Mega-Watt”.
We should not teach them the differences between power plants, CFB, IGCC, nor details of the Kyoto protocol. They should know that Nuclear Power plants are essentially thermal power plants with one cycle more in heat balance diagrams.
They should know that our country had no chance, no finance, no capability to build its own thermal power plants but all small East European countries have. At present, there are Far East companies appearing to build new imported coal firing thermal power plants on our shores at a fraction of international markets turnkey basis, complete with basic design, fabrication, outsourcing the key equipment, site construction, site installation, and even long-term operation.
One should know that we could not have our own nuclear power plant for the last 40 years since we could not build our own thermal power plants during the same period under our own engineering capability.
While we have unemployment complaints, how come we tolerate Far East companies bringing their own employees, mostly convicts/ soldiers, at minimum labor cost. It is not possible in Europe, Northern America, Russia, or in Arab Countries.
European countries require the foreign contractors to pay the minimum wage in European standards to their employees. That makes the competition fair. Our name is in the reference list of Far East contractors along with the least developed countries such as Sri Lanka / Bangladesh / Pakistan / Laos / Vietnam / Malaysia / Indonesia/ Central Africa / Sudan and Yemen. That is a real embarrassment to be on those lists.
If you can handle the basic design engineering and can do your own outsourcing, make the site construction in-house, use your local capabilities for site installation and external piping, under the prevailing international market figures, you can reduce your overall investment cost by about 25%.
Far East companies deliver technical drawing in their own language except the simple title block. Our engineers can not read them. Investors do not want to take operation risk. The new tendency is in making long-term operation contracts with the original contractors. It is the case now in Sirnak, KaraBiga and BeyPazari. This practice could be repeated in Catalagzi soon. Local employment will be limited to the security posts at the main entrance of the plant.
European Trade unions protect the rights of their members. They also protect the local employment capabilities. Their political parties are very sensitive in these issues since they can not risk upsetting their voters; otherwise, they pay the consequences heavily.
If local trade unions cannot voice on these issues, then it becomes the responsibility of the Chambers of Engineers to speak up on behalf of local engineering for employment protection.
When we review the Environmental Impact Assessment reports, other than flora and fauna and all those unnecessary details, we read that the investment would create so many numbers of local employments. You feel happy that our countrymen will have employment; we shall have so many families and their dependants get money to survive.
When we complete the EIA report, and accept their application, we find that the investor places the final order to a Far East originated cheap design/ cheap supplier/ cheap contractor, and that cheap contractor brings thousands of employees (or convicts/ soldiers) to our land. The power plant supply also has a short lifespan due to poor material consumed during the project just to survive in the temporary acceptance period.
We should have continuous monitoring of Environmental Impact Assessment conditions during all phases of the project as well as periodical inspections during operation. That is a very serious issue.
We now have an unnecessary number of license applications for construction imported coal firing, new thermal power plants. Do we have the capability to have all of them on our beautiful shores?? Do we need them all??
How will they control their stack emissions, CO2 emissions, fly-ash dust emissions, or slug disposal? To what standards, to EU or to Local? Shouldn’t we have some reasonable limitations in numbers and capacities? Should we approve them all?
Energy is a very serious business. It is vital for the people. We should sincerely take all of those regulating procedures starting from licensing, continued in financing, tendering, environmental controls, construction and long-term operations. We need a qualified, experienced, highly educated public staff to monitor all these serious activities.
Honestly speaking, if I would be your Editor in a leading Newspaper in nationwide circulation, I would never allow a columnist to write an article on energy if he/she had no education in Thermodynamics in his/her undergrad university education.
Your comments are always welcome. Thank you and best regards.
—
Haluk Direskeneli, Hamburg based Energy Analyst
Portland, Oregon | Rites and Rituals
The notorious doughnut shop was founded by Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson and Tres Shannon to fill a void in Portland’s late night dining scene. Apparently there was a spiritual void as well as the two gentlemen also preside over Voodoo’s numerous weddings. That’s right: while the doughnuts are the main attraction, committing to eternal love is also an option thanks to several legally-binding wedding and commitment ceremony packages, replete with in-house refreshments.
The tiny storefront in Old Town is decorated with velvet paintings and newspaper clippings of minor stars and public figures’, lit by the one and only Cruller Chandelier of Life. In a city brimming with oddities, it’s the doughnuts that really distinguish Voodoo from the rest of the field. Popular flavors include Cap’n Crunch (raised doughnut, vanilla icing, and Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries), Ol’ Dirty Bastard (chocolate cake doughnut with chocolate icing, Oreo cookie crumbles, and peanut butter drizzled on top), the Bacon Maple Bar (take a traditional maple bar and, yes, add bacon), and the eponymous doughnut consisting of a gingerbread-man shaped doughnut covered in chocolate icing and punctured by pretzels, from whose wounds ooze raspberry filling.
The Voodoo ran into some trouble when they were confronted by the Food and Drug Administration after selling Nyquil glazed donut and the Vanilla Pepto Crushed Tums donuts to wrecked party-goers.
“With the Pepto doughnut, I honestly thought if you had that shot of tequila you shouldn’t have at 2:00 a.m., and then you got sugar, bread, Pepto, and Tums, you’d either feel better or puke your a** off and then feel better because you got it out of your system. So it was a win-win either way,” reasoned Pogson.
In addition to doubling as a wedding chapel, secular events are regularly held at the shops to enhance the communal doughnut loving. Back in the day, the store offered free Swahili lessons to visitors before the evening rush. These days, at midnight on the first Friday of every month, Voodoo holds a doughnut eating contest.
One of these very contest provided the basis for the oft-attempted “Tex-Ass Challenge” in which a participant attempts to eat the Tex-Ass doughnut (an enormous glazed doughnut equal to six of the regular doughnuts) in under 90 seconds amidst an alternately cheering or heckling crowd; rarely do folks succeed, but winnings include the price of the Tex-Ass and some hefty bragging rights. Just say the word and a (somewhat) friendly doughnut staff-member will set festivities in motion.
In 2008, Voodoo expanded to a second location on the east side of the Willamette River (which bisects Portland’s city center). Unlike the original, Voodoo Too has ample parking, seating space, and a bubble hockey game to divert patrons 21 hours of every day. The original location is open 24/7, though the shop’s interior may be closed during low-traffic hours, whence customers belly-up to the adjacent ‘doughnut window’ on the building’s exterior to be served drive-thru style.
Should the Voodoo experience have made a lasting impression, visitors are encouraged to purchase the various memorabilia for sale in the shops. After all, who doesn’t need a pair of pink briefs with “Good things come in pink boxes” scrawled over one’s rear?
The About Samsonite page throws around important sounding phrases about embodying the brand, leveraging craftsmanship, and creating unique solutions.
By identifying trends and interpreting travelers’ needs, Samsonite continues to infuse innovation and new ideas into travel, re-igniting the sophistication and experience of the past.
Yawn.
It’s a good example of the way big companies wind up talking. Bloated language is what happens when copy gets filtered through a committee.
Compare that to The Saddleback Story, the tale behind bagmaker Saddleback Leather.
It all began when I had my first bag made while living in Southern Mexico as a volunteer English teacher to kids who needed a little help. I had looked everywhere for just the right bag, but with no luck…
In my search, I walked into a little leather shop and met the fellow working leather in the back. I asked him if he could make me a bag if I were to draw it out. I told him that I wanted this bag to be made so well that my grandkids would be fighting over it while I was still warm in the grave. He said “Si” and I said “Bueno” and that’s how it all started.
And it continues from there. Now that’s copy with a pulse. A personal story like that is something a little guy can deliver that a big corp can’t. A tiny company can bring people inside the fold this way and turn a perceived weakness (small size) into a strength.
Yun Wu Tea is a weight loss product that claims it will change your life. It even offers “guaranteed results in 2 weeks” (website). This Yun Wu Tea review will explain the truth behind the bold claims made by Happy Healthy, manufacturer of Yun Wu Tea.
The Yun Wu Tea website is very vague about the ingredients it contains. The only ingredient they admit to is green tea. Green tea does actually contribute to weight loss. Studies have shown that when taken in doses of at least 300 mg per day, green tea does cause weight loss. Unfortunately, there is no mention of how much green tea is contained in Yun Wu Tea. Therefore, there is no way to determine if Yun Wu Tea will actually cause weight loss.
You can get a 2 week free trial of Yun Wu Tea. You simply enter your age, weight, height, and zip code. Then they tell you that you are eligible for the trial but that there are only 10 packages left for the zip code you entered. Think you have nothing to lose? Better read the fine print. If you don’t cancel the trial before the 2 weeks are up, you are enrolled in autoship, which means they send you more product every month and automatically charge your credit card for it.
So what is the cost for Yun Wu Tea? You won’t find it unless you search the fine print. The monthly cost for Yun Wu Tea is $87 per month. This is outrageous. You can buy green tea at your supermarket for a few bucks. There is no reason to believe that Yun Wu Tea will do anything more than a supermarket tea will do.
The Yun Wu Tea website is packed with testimonials and photos. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that many (if not most) testimonials and photos on diet product websites are fabricated or doctored, so don’t be too impressed. The website also shows “Hollywood celebrities that drink green tea,” with photos of those celebrities. While it may be true that these celebrities drink green tea, there is no proof that they use Yun Wu Tea.
In addition to the free trial, the Yun Wu website offers a free upgrade. You can get Acai Slim Flush for free (but after the trial you will be paying $47 per month). There is no scientific evidence to show that acai actually contributes to weight loss.
This Yun Wu Tea review finds Yun Wu Tea might contribute to weight loss, but it certainly isn’t worth the $87 it would most likely take to find out. If you want to try green tea for weight loss, go with a product that contains the appropriate amount of green tea.
Filed under: Car Buying, Marketing/Advertising, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep
Spend any time in the advertising business, and you’ll see this kind of struggle. So called “high-concept” advertising is what tends to be what consumers emotionally engage with and remember. Usually, only big brands with a national presence and lots of money can pull off advertising that is more about the spot than the product it’s hawking. Running with the big boys requires vision on the part of decision makers. While big companies have marketing specialists with high falutin’ degrees and summat, the retailers that close sales and take the money from your hand focus much more on product.
According to Bloomberg, Chrysler and its dealer body are playing out this very struggle. Dealers are unhappy with the company’s new advertising efforts and budget changes that have been made as part of the recently enacted five year business plan. Facing sales that were down twenty five percent in November, dealers have asked that the new ads focusing on lifestyle and brand-building, such as the latest Jeep spots, be stopped. Advertising that shows vehicles and their features, along with a harder sell on the price and incentive front would be preferable to the dealers.
Cash on the hood is down, however, and Chrysler has some vehicles that are challenging to sell. Regional advertising budgets have been readjusted, as well, siphoning off funds from some higher-volume dealers to regions without enough volume to get any help in the fourth quarter otherwise. The plan in Auburn Hills is to aggressively rebuild its brands over the next five years, which is an image-building operation where the new campaign makes sense. In the meantime, however, the company needs to sell cars to stay solvent until its touchy-feely advertising takes root; an effort that may be better served by the product-centric advertising the dealers want. While everyone loves clever advertisements, sometimes it’s just best to scream about the deals on Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!
Hit the jump to see an example of the new commercials.
[Source: Bloomberg]
REPORT: Chrysler dealers unhappy over new ads, want regional marketing spending restored [w/VIDEO] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Published Dec. 9, 2009
Bob Brawdy, Tri-City Herald Photographer
Fourth grade students at Bethlehem Lutheran School launch their tissue paper hot air balloons outside the Kennewick school. Paige Wyatt, an associate professor of Engineering Technology at Columbia Basin College, helps teacher Elizabeth Robinson with the science project.
Photo Gallery: Bethlehem hot air balloons
If you’re looking for a gift to buy yourself this holiday season (or someone else, I suppose, though I never find that people much like software gifts), the MacUpdate Holiday Bundle has just arrived and is well worth considering. Like MacHeist and many other software bundles, MacUpdate’s offers a heaping helping of software at a bargain basement price.
The bundle includes 11 quality Mac apps, including both utilities and games, and if you’re lucky enough to be one of the first 10,000 buyers, you also get three additional pieces of software at no extra charge (around 1,200 had been sold at the time of this writing). Best of all, if you’re unsure about any of the apps included, you can download a preview package that includes trial versions of each.
The total cost of the Holiday Bundle is $49.99, which is a nearly 90 percent discount from the cumulative regular price of $446.77. Even if two of the apps on offer are part of your prospective to-buy list, there’s no better time to snatch them up. Here’s a quick look at what’s included in the deal:
That’s the basic bundle, but as mentioned, you also get three other apps if you buy it soon. Those three are PowerTunes (manage multiple iTunes libraries), Holiday DVD Templates (self-explanatory) and FlagIt! (flag add-on for Apple Mail). The MacUpdate Holiday Bundle is only available for around 12 more days, so if you’re going to bite, you’ve got less than two weeks to do it.
We’ve seen plenty of stories of “astroturf” campaigns by lobbyists looking to influence public policy by pretending that there’s grassroots support for some corporate position. And, we’ve seen stories of virtual goods scams taking place on various social networks, which are used to get unsophisticated social gamers to sign up for subscriptions to things that they don’t want. But what happens when you combine the two?
Nicholas Carlson has an astounding story about a health insurance astroturf group that is using those social gaming “offer” services to get gamers to contact their elected officials to oppose health care reform in exchange for virtual currency in games. Yes, health insurance companies are basically trying to bribe a bunch of Farmville and Mafia Wars players on Facebook to send messages to their representatives, that say: “I am concerned a new government plan could cause me to lose the employer coverage I have today. More government bureaucracy will only create more problems, not solve the ones we have.” In exchange, you get some virtual currency to spend.
The group behind this virtual bribery astroturfing effort is backed by a who’s who of insurance trade associations… and when Carlson tried to contact them for comment, the email bounced. Nice to see that some of the scammiest lobbying groups out there have found some of the scammiest marketing techniques out there as well.
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Rates will be rising across most of the world, but from absurdly low and stimulative levels.
Thus to call it a year of interest rate tightening might be an overstatement.
According a 2010 economic piece from Morgan Stanley's global economics team, this will be a dominant theme for the coming year.
Thus the 'Triple A Liquidity Cycle' will continue!
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Employees at a pizzeria in Ireland were fired for watching porn on the job. Isn’t that disgusting? Irish people attempting to make pizza!
What isn’t disgusting is the number of mortgage companies which are interested in expanding. For example, First Centennial Mortgage, out of Illinois, is sending out e-mails looking for originators. First Priority Financial, a retail shop out of California, announced that they were buying Austin Perry Financial, a wholesaler also based in California. CMG Mortgage has been expanding, as has Opes Advisors, Stearns Lending, American Pacific, etc., etc. (just a small sample from here in CA) – the list goes on. This is an interesting trend, as perhaps small to mid-size bankers are indeed seeing the origination “pie” shrinking in 2010, and are looking to maintain volumes and increase market share. And the hiring is not only taking place in the loan officer arena, but also operations and back office support.
Unfortunately rates were not the mortgage banker’s friend yesterday. The 10-yr auction was not the best, with a bid/cover ratio slightly less than other recent auctions, less foreign demand, and one trader said it was “somewhat sloppy”. This morning we’ve seen Jobless Claims and the Trade numbers – and that does it for news.
This weekend (December 11-13), Notre Dame Assistant Professor of Law Sean O’Brien will take part in the ISBA’s 2009 midyear meeting in Chicago, during which the Diversity Leadership Council will present a special program in honor President Obama’s “Call to Service” and International Human Rights Day – Lincoln’s Legacy: Lawyers Who Protect Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. The program will include a keynote address by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and a panel discussion of Illinois lawyers who “make a difference” moderated by WTTW’s Chicago Tonight Host Phil Ponce.
O’Brien—who has also served as assistant director of Notre Dame Law School’s Center for Civil and Human Rights since 2005—has a wealth of experience in international and domestic human rights work. He holds three degrees from the University of Notre Dame, most recently graduating summa cum laude from the Center’s LL.M. program in 2002. His experience includes work with the Belfast law firm of Madden & Finucane before the Bloody Sunday Inquiry in Derry, Northern Ireland and litigation with the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) in the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights. Immediately prior to his return to Notre Dame, he served as Chief Counsel for Immigration and Human Rights at the Center for Multicultural Human Services (CMHS) in Falls Church, VA, directing a legal services program for survivors of torture and war trauma.
O’Brien’s passion becomes service to the profession through his work as chair of the bar’s Human Rights Section Council. The body educates Illinois lawyers and the public on human rights issues and assists the bar in advocating for greater human rights protections in Illinois and beyond. “Few members of the Section Council practice human or civil rights law full-time,” explains O’Brien. “But they all see human rights as part of their vocation in the law and it informs their representation of clients.” Through their work on the Section Council, O’Brien believes that lawyers from all parts of the state and all different practice areas “rekindle the flame” that drew them to the profession of law in the first place.
Under O’Brien’s leadership, the Section Council is currently looking at ways to support the June 2008 decision of the ISBA General Assembly to oppose the death penalty in Illinois. Through legislative monitoring and other activities, the Section Council hopes to ensure and end to state-sponsored killing. The Section Council is also taking steps towards recommending that the ISBA officially support the U.S. ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The treaty is the only human rights-related treaty on the U.S. State Department’s priority list of 17 treaties “on which the Administration supports Senate action at this time.” While the U.S. signed CEDAW in 1980, the Senate has failed to take the final step of actually ratifying the treaty. The U.S. stands with Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Nauru, Palau and Tonga as the only nations in the world who have yet to ratify this treaty protecting and promoting basic human rights for women and girls. O’Brien hopes that the ISBA, along with other bar associations across the country, can help remove the U.S. from this list once and for all.
In addition to human rights, O’Brien is a member of the International and International Law Section Council, as well as the bar’s Diversity Leadership Council. “It’s important that our profession reflects the wisdom and experiences of the entire community – not just of those who have traditionally been able to afford law school. If the bar is not inclusive – and is not seen as taking active steps to promote diversity – we risk our reputation as agents of justice and as a profession that champions the law on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves.”
